Tie a red, red ribbon: Betrayer’s early Steam access begins

If you go down to the woods today y … well, just don’t go down to the woods.

If Blackpowder Games’ Betrayer looked interesting to you when it was announced last week, then you’ll probably be cheered by the news that it’s now available through Steam’s “early access” system. Essentially, you pay the $13.50 USD asking price (down by 10%) and get to start playing the title immediately. It won’t be finished yet, but you’ll get to file bug reports and give the developers feedback and things like that.

Betrayer sounds pretty unusual and interesting in its premise. You’re a 17th Century colonist in the New World who thought they were going to meet up with a colony in Virginia, but instead finds only spectres and confusion. It sounds like non-linear exploration will be in order to find out what the heck happened there, and why everything is now in black and white (with splashes of red.)

It’s the FPS version of Europa Universalis IV, except with more ghosts and fewer confusing trade routes; and if that doesn’t sound like a great idea for a game, I don’t know what else can be done for you.

Right now, the developers say the game has “an introductory area and one large region to explore.” and that “Most of the weapon categories are represented, including shortbows, longbows, crossbows, muskets, pistols, and the throwing axe.” In the coming days and weeks, they intend to “open up new areas to explore that feature new enemies, weapons, gameplay mechanics, characters, and mysteries.”

At this stage you won’t see a vast amount of the story, but will be able to experiment with Betrayer’s mechanics.